Gasification systems are known in which solid fuels such as coal, organic wastes such as residues generated when petroleum is refined, waste plastics, sludge, municipal refuse, or biomass fuel are used as gasification starting materials. In the gasification systems, the starting materials are supplied to and gasified in a gasification furnace, such as a steam gasification furnace, a pyrolytic gasification furnace, or a partial oxidation gasification furnace, thereby generating gasification gas. A refined gas obtained by purifying and refining the gasification gas is supplied as either fuel for power-generating facilities, combustion furnaces, and internal combustion engines or a source gas of hydrogen production systems and ammonia production systems.
In such gasification systems, it is known that a tarry component (hereinafter collectively referred to as “tar”) that is hardly decomposed during gasification is contained in the gasification gas generated by gasifying the gasification starting material in the gasification furnace. This tar adheres to piping or a thermal apparatus provided on a rear stage of the gasification furnace, thereby reducing the function of the thermal apparatus or causing blockage which stops the function of the thermal apparatus.
For this reason, a tar removal device for removing the tar in the gasification gas has been variously proposed conventionally. For example, it is set forth in Patent Document 1 that a container main body in which a ceramic layer made up of an assembly of numerous porous ceramic heat reservoirs capturing tar in a gasification gas is filled in predetermined compartments and a switching means that selectively circulates the gasification gas and a gasifying agent to the ceramic layers of the compartments are provided to capture the tar by passing the gasification gas through the ceramic layer and then passing the gasifying agent through the ceramic layer capturing the tar, thereby removing the tar and supplying the gasifying agent containing the removed tar to a gasification furnace.